North Dakota Genealogy

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Free North Dakota Genealogy Data and Links

North Dakota Biographies

North Dakota Biographies Index The North Dakota Biography Index database is an ongoing project of the NDSU Institute for Regional Studies to provide access to biographical sketches found in a wide variety of North Dakota publications. It currently contains some 250,000 names to published biographical sketches of North Dakotans found in over 800 publications. This is an index to biographies found offline!

1885 Dakota Territory Census The NDSU Institute for Regional Studies headed a statewide cooperative project to index the entire original Dakota Territory 1885 Census schedules for the counties that today form North Dakota. The database contains over 151,500 names. Each entry includes: name, age, nativity, occupation, county of residence, and exact location of the entry in the census schedule.

Cass County, North Dakota Probate Records Index, 1875-1949All Cass County, N.D. probate files from circa 1875 to 1949 have been transferred to the NDSU Institute for Regional Studies. This database was developed by the Institute to provide researchers access to over 5,900 individual case files.

Dakota Forts List of colonial forts, trading posts, named camps, redoubts, reservations, general hospitals, national cemeteries, etc., established or erected in the United States from its earliest settlement to 1902.

1st North Dakota Volunteers Database sourced with permission from The Boys: 1st North Dakota Volunteers in the Philippines, by John Durand.

Civil War Pensions Index Cards Each card gives the soldier’s name, unit, the application number, the certificate number and the state from which the soldier served. In some cases, the soldier’s rank, terms of service, date of death and place of death are given. The index cards refer to pension applications of veterans who served in the U.S. Army between 1861 and 1917. The majority of the records pertain to Civil War veterans, but they also include veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, Indian wars, and World War I.

Fargo Forum Obituary Index The indexing of Fargo Forum newspaper obituaries is an ongoing project of the NDSU Institute for Regional Studies. The time period completed includes from October 1892 to 1909 and from November 1982 to 1995. In addition partial indexing has been done for other years. The database currently contains over 70,000 names. Additional obituaries continue to be added on a regular basis.

Cass County, North Dakota Divorce and Civil Case Index, 1870-1942 The Cass County, N.D. civil and divorce case files, spanning from the 1870s to 1942, were transferred to the NDSU Institute for Regional Studies in 2001. This database, developed by the Institute, indexes over 3,300 cases handled in Cass County District Court. Individual entries include names of the plaintiff and defendant, attorneys, dates of proceedings, and miscellaneous notes.

Cass County, North Dakota Marriage License Index, 1872-1944 The NDSU Institute for Regional Studies developed this database to all marriage licenses recorded in Cass County, N.D. between circa 1872 and July 1944. The original licenses are available at the Institute. Since marriage licenses were not required until 1887, many prior marriages will not be documented in the county records.

North Dakota Genealogy Databases

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Ancestry is the largest provider of genealogy data online. The billions of records they provide have advanced genealogy online beyond imagination just a decade ago. The following is but a small sample of what they provide for North Dakota genealogy at Ancestry. While some of these databases are free, many require a subscription. You can try a 14 day free trial and see if you can find any of your North Dakota genealogy at Ancestry!

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